"When you watch this you realize how much of a struggle it
was for these kids to overcome that adversity," Alabama Film Co-Op workshop
director Don Tingle says. He's referring to students depicted in Bernardo Ruiz's documentary "The
Graduates/Los Graduados." "The title kind of gives the ending away, but it's
about people who fought their way through all those problems and managed to make
a success out of it."

"When I first popped it into the DVD, I thought this was
probably going to be kind of dull, because it's basically segments about six
boys and six girls, all Latino, growing up in public schools and the problems
they face," Tingle says. He's calling from the kitchen table of his Huntsville
home.

"It turns out as you start watching and see what all these
kids have gone through, even though it's told from the Latino perspective,
these are very universal stories. You realize how much of a struggle it was for
these kids to overcome that adversity."

Founded in 2005, Community Cinema is a public education and
civic engagement initiative featuring free monthly screenings from the Emmy
Award-winning series "Independent Lens" and other PBS presentations. Over 95
cities participate, according to communitycinema.org.

The Huntsville version is a joint venture between the
Alabama Film Co-Op, Lowe Mill and Flying Monkey Arts, says Tingle, whose favorite all-time documentary is 1994's "Hoop Dreams."

"We were looking for
something to happen at Lowe Mill that would bring about more awareness within the community for supporting social issues and causes. This
is actually an investment on the part of Lowe Mill and Flying Monkey, in terms
of using spaces that could otherwise be rented out for money, we're donating
those to be able to do this free program."

Logistics for Community Cinema screenings beyond Sept. 21 are
still being worked out.

For example, "The Graduates/Los Graduados" will be shown in
the Lowe Mill space known as the "First Floor Connector." ("It's at the ramp up
to the two big metal doors, under the water tower," Tingle explains.) However,
it's not certain future screenings will take place in that space.

Scheduling for later films should be finalized in the next
few weeks. But for now the time and date for the second in the series, "The
State of Arizona," isn't specified any further than "November – December."

"We may run into scheduling issues and have to schedule them
at different times," Tingle says, "but our hope is to schedule them all for four o'clock on Saturdays."